Haha...yeah I don't get why people hate strikeouts so much. Usually it's the same people who claim it isn't a big deal when pitchers rack up a ton of them.

Strikeouts aren't a big deal if you're still productive. In some instances, they are the better option (instead of going up there just trying to poke the ball in play, which can lead to a double play). Sure, they're also the worst option in some cases, but really how bad a strikeout is versus any other out is at least situation specific.

Strikeouts are a big deal because they are the least productive out. Groundouts and fly outs can be productive, if you're putting the ball in play you are least opening the door to the possibility of an error. A strikeout doesn't allow that. Now, obviously you can have a guy who can strikeout a ton and still be productive (Jim Thome struck out a lot but he was still productive). But Thome was at least hitting about .240 while striking out a lot, when you have a line up of low average, high strike out guys you are giving up a lot of very unproductive outs and are going to wind up struggling to score runs because of that.

My thinking is a bit jumbled right now and I can lay out a better argument later about why I dislike strikeouts so much and I will do that later.